Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for three trial court bench vacancies in the Fourth Judicial District in Hennepin County.

The vacancies occurred as a result of the retirement of the Honorable LaJune Thomas Lange on February 21, 2006, the resignation of the Honorable Katherian D. Roe on March 22, 2006, and the retirement of the Honorable Catherine L. Anderson on May 1, 2006.

The finalists are Peter A. Cahill, Kerry W. Meyer, Jay M. Quam, Susan M. Robiner, Gloria Stamps-Smith, and Richard A. Trachy.

Cahill, of Plymouth, is the chief deputy Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis, a position he has held since 2000. He has been an attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office since 1997. He was the founder and chief executive officer of The Blue Pages, Inc., from 1996 to 1997, a solo practitioner in Wayzata from 1993 to 1997, an attorney and partner with the law firm of Colich and Cahill in Minneapolis from 1988 to 1993, an associate attorney with the law firm of Colich and Wieland in Minneapolis from 1987 to 1988, and an assistant Fourth Judicial District public defender in Hennepin County from 1984 to 1987. Cahill earned his juris doctorate degree magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1984, and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts in 1981.

Meyer, of Orono, is an assistant Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis, a position she has held since 1992. She has been a prosecutor in the general violent crimes division since 2004, and has previously worked in the property division from 2002 to 2004, the gangs division from 1998 to 2002, and the juvenile division from 1992 through 1997. She was also a law clerk in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office in 1991. Meyer earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1990, and her bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Alma College in Alma, Michigan in 1987.

Quam, of Eden Prairie, is an attorney and shareholder in the litigation department at the Fredrikson and Byron law firm in Minneapolis. He has been a shareholder since 1995 and an associate attorney with the firm from 1988 to 1995. He has also been a Hennepin County Conciliation Court Judge as well as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at St. Thomas University School of Law in Minneapolis since 2005. Quam earned his juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1988, and his bachelor of arts degree summa cum laude from Moorhead State University in 1984.

Robiner, of Minneapolis, is an attorney and shareholder with the law firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard in Minneapolis. She was a shareholder from 1993 to 2000 and again since 2001, and an associate attorney with the firm from 1985 to 1993. She was an attorney and partner with the Sprenger and Lang law firm in Minneapolis from 2000 to 2001. Robiner earned her juris doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC in 1985, and her bachelor of arts degree from Carleton College in Northfield in 1981.

Stamps-Smith, of Plymouth, has been an assistant Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis since 1995. She was a disciplinary counsel with the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court in Nashville from 1990 to 1995, and an assistant Minneapolis City Attorney from 1985 to 1989. Stamps-Smith earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Iowa Law School in Iowa City in 1984, and her bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi in 1981.

Trachy, of Hopkins, has been a senior attorney in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office in Minneapolis since 1996, and has been an attorney in the office since 1983. He was an assistant Anoka County Attorney from 1975 to 1983. Trachy earned his juris doctorate degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts in 1975, and his bachelor of science degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan in 1972. The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the Governor for district court vacancies that occur during the term of a judge.

The commission consists of 13 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial district. The commission members include attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the Governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court. The commission received 48 applications for these three judicial vacancies.